"I adore Kristen Ashley's books!" --- Maya Banks, New York Times bestselling author
When old friends become new lovers...anything can happen.
Sexy, gifted, and loyal, PI Jacob Decker is a tall, cool drink of perfection who had Emmanuelle Holmes at "hello." His relationship with Emme's best friend kept them apart for years, but things have changed. Now that a case has brought him to Gnaw Bone, Colorado, the road is wide open for Emme and Deck to explore something hotter and deeper than Emme dreamed possible. So why is she sabotaging the best thing that's ever happened to her?
It isn't easy to catch Deck off guard, but Emme does just that when she walks back into his life after nine long years. The curvy brunette had her charms back in the day, but now she's a bona fide knockout . . . and she wants to rekindle their friendship. Deck, however, wants more. Emme's always been the one; she excites Deck's body and mind like no other woman can. But a dark chapter from Emme's past overshadows their future together. Now only Deck can help her turn the page-if she'll let him . . .

Emme and Deck were friends for many years while he was dating her best friend. When Emme’s best friend broke up with Deck – and broke his heart – Emme knew she had to walk away from him, too. It would have been too painful for him if they remained friends. Nine years later they run into each other in Gnaw Bone. Emme is living there now and Deck is in town working on a case, though he actually lives in a nearby town. Emme is extremely happy to see her old friend and Deck is shocked at the change in Emme. She’s really blossomed into a beautiful, confident woman. She’s in the process of restoring a beautiful, rundown home and just happens to be dating the prime suspect in the case Deck has been called in to investigate.

Deck knows as soon as he sees Emme that she isn’t involved in the shady stuff her boyfriend is, but he needs to use her to get to her man. He figures the sooner he does that, the sooner he can work on getting back to where he should be…the main man in Emme’s life. He’s missed his friend and wants to explore a relationship with her.

When Emme realizes Deck used her and her boyfriend was involved in some shady stuff, she shuts down. Though she tries to open back up, there’s something that keeps holding her back. She keeps sabotaging the relationships in her life. Lucky for her, Deck isn’t willing to give up on her. Can she work through her issues before he loses patience?

I vaguely remember Deck from Breathe, Book 4 in the Colorado Mountain series. He was best friends with Chace, the hero of that book. I do not believe Breathe needs to be read first, however. Deck was barely mentioned in that book.

The shining star of this book is Deck. He’s down-to-earth and levelheaded, which was needed to balance Emme’s crazy. She suffered through an extremely traumatizing event as a child and hasn’t ever really dealt with it. For some reason, it’s finally coming to the surface. She doesn’t understand what’s happening to her, but she feels the need to put roadblocks in her relationship with Deck. I admit I found her constant push and pull frustrating. Her mental breakdown seemed to come out of nowhere and wasn’t explained very well, maybe because the story is written from her point-of-view and she didn’t think she had a problem?

She and Deck were good together. Their care and compassion for one another came through well. Had the side plot with Emme’s trauma been taken out, I think this would have worked much better.

Books Reviewed This Year

Reading Challenges

Rowena's 2020 A-Z Reading Challenge: 2 /26

8%

Rowena's 2020 Goodreads Challenge: 31 /52

60%

Rowena's 2020 New to Me Challenge: 4 /15

27%

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